1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hygiene product wherein an absorbent article to be adhered to a crotch portion of an undergarment for wear, such as sanitary napkin, vaginal discharge absorbing sheet or incontinence pad, is individually wrapped in a packaging sheet.
2. Description of the Related Art
Absorbent articles such as sanitary napkin are constructed to include a liquid permeable top layer, a liquid impermeable back layer, and a liquid absorbent layer (absorbent core) disposed between the top layer and the back layer. On a garment surface of the back layer, there is usually provided a pressure sensitive adhesive layer so that the back layer can be adhered to a crotch portion of an undergarment through the pressure sensitive adhesive layer, thereby preventing displacement.
Such an absorbent article is individually wrapped in a packaging sheet. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-5227 discloses such an individually packaged product, for instance.
In the individually packaged product disclosed in the above-identified publication, an adhesive layer provided on a garment surface of a backsheet of the absorbent article is protected by a release liner, and the release liner is adhered to the packaging sheet. The absorbent article, the release liner and the packaging sheet are folded together with a liquid permeable topsheet of the absorbent article being directed inward so that the packaging sheet appears externally.
When the absorbent article is taken out of the packaged product, the packaging sheet is peeled off as well as the adhesive layer of the backsheet is removed from the release liner. Then, the backsheet of the absorbent article is directed toward a crotch portion of an undergarment and the adhesive layer is adhered to the crotch portion of the undergarment.
On the other hand, Japanese Unexamined Utility-Model Publication Nos. 6-75446 (75446/1994) and 7-39820 (39820/1995) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-285486 (285486/1997) disclose packaged products that are prepared by folding an absorbent article together with a packaging sheet, wherein an adhesive layer provided on a backsheet of the absorbent article is adhered to a release layer formed on the packaging sheet and both the backsheet and a topsheet of the absorbent article are covered with the packaging sheet.
In the packaged product disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-5227, however, the topsheet of the absorbent article remains exposed externally until the adhesive layer is adhered to the crotch portion of the undergarment, after the packaging sheet is opened to remove the adhesive layer from the release liner. Therefore, the topsheet is liable to contact fingers during the opening operation. Here, it should be noted that the absorbent article is often pressed against the undergarment by laying a hand on the topsheet so as to certainly fix the adhesive layer to the crotch portion of the undergarment.
In the packaged products disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Utility-Model Publication Nos. 6-75446 (75446/1994) and 7-39820 (39820/1995) and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 9-285486 (285486/1997), on the other hand, although both the backsheet and the topsheet of the absorbent article are kept covered with the packaging sheet until use, since the release layer is formed on the packaging sheet, the packaging sheet will be completed separated from the absorbent article when the adhesive layer on the backsheet is peeled from the release layer. Accordingly, a wearer cannot help touching the topsheet when the adhesive layer on the backsheet is adhered to the crotch portion.
However, since the topsheet of the absorbent article comes into direct contact with the genital organ, it is usual for a wearer to wish to keep the topsheet clean, so that the wearer often hesitates about directly touching the topsheet with fingers. If the wearer washes her hands before attachment of the absorbent article to the undergarment, on the other hand, the topsheet can be kept clean but wet fingers may contact the topsheet. If the topsheet of the absorbent article is wetted with water that is adhering to the fingers, the wearer may feel that the topsheet is unsanitary.
Moreover, the use of water-disintegratable materials for a sanitary napkin or a vaginal discharge absorbing sheet is recently under consideration, but if wet fingers contact an absorbent article comprising water-disintegratable materials and water is given to the absorbent article, the strength of the topsheet and/or the backsheet may possibly decrease. In addition, if a garment attachment adhesive used for the water-disintegratable absorbent article is water-swellable one, the adhesive is swollen when applied water from fingers, so that adhesion between the absorbent article and the undergarment may decrease.
The present invention has been worked out in view of the shortcoming in the prior art set forth above. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a hygiene product in which an absorbent article can be adhered to a crotch portion of an undergarment without directly touching a top layer with fingers during removal of a packaging sheet.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided hygiene product comprising:
an absorbent article having a top layer for facing a wearer and a back layer having a pressure sensitive adhesive layer on a garment surface thereof; and
a packaging sheet in which the absorbent article is wrapped, wherein
the packaging sheet has a first surface and a second surface, at least 50% of the top layer of the absorbent article faces the first surface of the packaging sheet, and the pressure sensitive adhesive layer of the absorbent article is covered with a release sheet, wherein
the absorbent article is wrapped in the packaging sheet such that the second surface of the packaging sheet appears externally.
In this hygiene product, since at least 50% of the top layer of the absorbent article can remain covered with the packaging sheet even after the packaging sheet is opened and the release sheet is peeled off, the absorbent article can be attached to an undergarment by pushing the top layer through the packaging sheet, so that fingers can be prevented from directly contacting the top layer.
Preferably, the packaging sheet is detachably fixed to the top layer of the absorbent article through temporal attachment means. If the packaging sheet is thus detachably fixed to the top layer, the top layer can be easily kept covered with the packaging sheet until the absorbent article is attached to the undergarment, thereby preventing fingers from directly contacting the top layer. Since the packaging sheet is detachably fixed to the top layer, moreover, the packaging sheet can be easily removed from the top layer after the absorbent article is attached to the undergarment.
Also preferably, the packaging sheet and the release sheet are connected to each other. In this case, the release sheet and the packaging sheet can be handled while being connected to each other even after removal of the release sheet from the adhesive layer, adhesion of the adhesive layer to the crotch portion of the undergarment and removal of the packaging sheet from the top layer, thereby facilitating the removal and disposal of the release sheet and the packaging sheet.
The absorbent article may have a main body portion and a pair of wing portions extending outwardly from longitudinally extending side edges of the main body portion. In this case, each wing portion may have a second pressure sensitive adhesive layer on a garment surface thereof and may be folded back against the release sheet so that the second pressure sensitive adhesive layer is adhered to the release sheet. With such construction, the second pressure sensitive adhesive layer can be protected by the release sheet.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hygiene product comprising:
an absorbent article having a top layer for facing a wearer and a back layer on a side opposite the top layer; and
a packaging sheet in which the absorbent article is wrapped, wherein
the absorbent article is wrapped in the packaging sheet with the packaging sheet being detachably fixed to the top layer of the absorbent article through temporal attachment means.
According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hygiene product comprising:
an absorbent article having a top layer for facing a wearer and a back layer having a pressure sensitive adhesive layer on a garment surface thereof; and
a packaging sheet in which the absorbent article is wrapped, wherein
the packaging sheet has a first surface and a second surface, the first surface has a release-treated portion, the pressure sensitive adhesive layer of the absorbent article is adhered to the release-treated portion of the packaging sheet, and at least 50% of the top layer is covered with a protective sheet, wherein
the absorbent article is wrapped in the packaging sheet such that the second surface of the packaging sheet appears externally.
In this hygiene product, even after the packaging sheet is peeled from the absorbent article, at least 50% of the top layer of the absorbent article can remain covered with the protective sheet. Therefore, the absorbent article can be adhered to the crotch portion of the undergarment while protecting the top layer with the protective sheet.
Preferably, the protective sheet is detachably fixed to the top layer of the absorbent article through temporal attachment means. Also preferably, the packaging sheet and the protective sheet are connected to each other.
According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hygiene product comprising:
an absorbent article having a top layer for facing a wearer and a back layer on a side opposite the top layer; and
a packaging sheet in which the absorbent article is wrapped, wherein
the absorbent article is wrapped in the packaging sheet with a protective sheet being detachably fixed to the top layer of the absorbent article through temporal attachment means.
According to a fifth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a hygiene product comprising:
an absorbent article having a top layer for facing a wearer and a back layer on a side opposite the top layer; and
a packaging sheet in which the absorbent article is wrapped, wherein
the packaging sheet has a first surface and a second surface, the packaging sheet is folded such that the first surface faces both the top layer and the back layer of the absorbent article, and the packaging sheet is detachably fixed to the top layer of the absorbent article through temporal attachment means, wherein
the absorbent article is wrapped in the packaging sheet such that the second surface of the packaging sheet appears externally.
Also in this case, since the packaging sheet is detachably fixed to the top layer of the absorbent article through temporal attachment means, the top layer can be kept covered with the packaging sheet until the absorbent article is attached to the undergarment.
If the back layer has a pressure sensitive adhesive layer on a garment surface thereof, the first surface of the packaging sheet may have a release-treated portion and the pressure sensitive adhesive layer may be adhered to the release-treated portion. Alternatively, a release sheet may be provided separately from the packaging sheet.
Here, individual side portions of the packaging sheet protruding transversely outwardly beyond transversely opposed side edges of the absorbent article may be sealed. In this case, the absorbent article can be wrapped in the packaging sheet without being folded together with the packaging sheet.
In the hygiene products according to the first to fifth aspects of the present invention, individual side portions of the packaging sheet protruding transversely outwardly beyond transversely opposed side edges of the absorbent article may be sealed after the packaging sheet is folded or rolled together with the absorbent article. Here, one end of the packaging sheet appearing externally may be detachably fixed to the second surface of the packaging sheet beneath the end. For instance, the fixation may be performed by using a tape having a pressure sensitive adhesive layer, a hot-melt type adhesive or heat seal.
With such seals, the absorbent article after folded or rolled hardly comes out of the packaging sheet. In addition, dust or the like hardly goes into the package. In the present invention, however, it is not necessarily required to seal the packaging sheet. Particularly when the pressure sensitive adhesive layer on the back layer of the absorbent article is adhered to the release-treated portion of the packaging sheet or the packaging sheet is fixed to the top layer of the absorbent article through the temporal attachment means, the absorbent article hardly comes out of the packaging sheet without the seals.
In the hygiene products, the absorbent article, the packaging sheet, the release sheet and the protective sheet may comprise water-disintegratable materials.